


Transmutation

by adrift_me



Category: Dishonored (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, Androids, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Disturbing Themes, M/M, Science Fiction, Sexual Abuse, android!Outsider, not between Corvo and the Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-28 00:55:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15037121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adrift_me/pseuds/adrift_me
Summary: Sometimes a story is simply a story. And two men with tragic pasts, which would have run the world, are simply the storytellers. The world doesn’t always need heroics, for its carcass is the intimate connection between people. And if one is made of wire and metal and another of flesh and bone, what does it matter?Truly, it matters not.A story where the Outsider is an android and Corvo is a man with a tragic past. How is this going to work?





	Transmutation

**Author's Note:**

> This is my contribution to Fandom Trumps Hate charity auction. Unfortunately, my bidder did not give me a prompt, so I had to come up with one, but I'm happy with this and I hope my bidder reads it and enjoys it, which I hope you also do.
> 
> This fic has been heavily inspired by one of my favourite TV shows "Humans", Merthur fic "[M-RYS](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1588331/chapters/3375473)" and recent game Detroit: Become Human.
> 
>  
> 
> [Come chat with me on tumblr :)](https://a-driftamongopenstars.tumblr.com/ask)

In a world run by a corporate web, where technology is the core of existence, where cityscapes are elevated lines of neon and night sky, there is always a protagonist who uncovers a grand plot to overturn the government and let people know the truth. There is gunfire, the standoff of humanity and technological life and lengthy speeches about the importance of such a settled way of living and great sacrifices.

But sometimes things simply are. Sometimes there  _ is _ no plot. And sometimes there is simply a man who learns out the greatest mystery and tragedy and has to learn to live with it because knowing it changes nothing.

Of course, he doesn’t know any of it yet…

***

Workshop #41 is a small “flea market” business with an adjoined apartment on the corner of Mintry street, Dunwall. The district is high up on the levels, overlooking those below and having an open view to the city horizon. Though it is night time with quite a rainfall, life in the district is wild and loud, with lively traffic and the majority of shops and workshops open still. This dark street is lit by cool street lanterns of tinted white neon, and people’s cybernetic augmentations and umbrellas make a scatter of bright lights to add to the illumination.

The workshop’s windows are obscured, but the glowing sign above the entrance states it is open.

Inside the workshop it is all mess and work. A vast collection of rarities, devices and components alike, some common supplies such as blue blood tubes for androids and component replacements. There are tools and holoscreens on the dark gray wall, together with the thin stripes of light. Just below the ceiling a thin tableau is spelling “ _ August 9, 2178. 9.11PM. +12C, heavy rains. Rain will cease in 20 minutes. _ ” It glows dimly with dark blue and purple tints, indicating the rainy weather outside. Corvo can’t see it, prefers keeping his windows obscured. But the sound is present, the ever soothing pattering of rain droplets and the traffic outside.

Corvo squints at the tableau, ponders for a moment and returns to work. Hardly anyone would come in his workshop at that time, what with the rain as well, and Corvo allows himself to be engulfed in physical work, a welding tool held tightly in his hand.

The desk Corvo is working at is piled with little pieces of hardware, heaps upon heaps. There are memory blocks, outdated, “vintage”, as they call them, stacked on the edge, and on top of them is a holopad with the latest magazine article open.

_ “HARDWARE VS SOFTWARE - IS THERE A TECH REVOLUTION AROUND THE CORNER? _

_ When most of the world’s inventions run on a few lines of code and devices are a mere projection rather than an assembly of components, service workshops with coders are needed more than those that tinker with springs and cogs. However, we cannot close this niche entirely, because our society still uses plenty of physical devices, androids being one of them. _

_ What awaits us in the future? Will the androids become self-serviced machines? Will they be made of flesh and bone, thus needing no more maintenance, a perfected copy of humanity? Or a parody of it? _

_ Last year the lead of Cybernetics Inc, whose androids have become a marketing blast 50 years ago, stated that…” _

Corvo has read it multiple times, a feeling of dooming anxiety burning lightly in his stomach still. This workshop is all he has, and he would rather keep his job here than work at cozy boring offices that seem to have no life or soul, only walls and walls of holographic screens and even more so, walls and walls of code. With the amount of holographic and self-serviced devices out there sometimes Corvo feels like people are forgetting about the tactility of the world.

He has always preferred physical work. Tonight he is trying to fix an old music player, a remnant of such an old era, it feels like a myth. Commissioned to restore it to a working order by some rarity collector, Corvo stays up late not only to fix the commission, but also to avoid the tiresome tossing and turning in a sweat-soaked bed, a result of insomnia.

Suddenly Corvo hears a loud shout outside the workshop, a crash and another shout. He gives the door a cautious look. It could be simply some ruffians in a drunken fight, not something Corvo is unused to. But preferring to have no police lights in his windows in the morning because of a dead body found there, Corvo lowers the tools, throws on a sharply angled coat and goes to look.

His hair is soaking wet the moment he steps outside, and even the intricate neon linework, running down from his left cheek and to the chest, seems to be protesting. The shouting has ceased, but as Corvo looks around the corner towards the source, he sees an old hovervan with a cracked headlight, parked in the alleyway between two business buildings.

“Come on, boy, hurry your arse up!”

There is a man standing by the van’s door, looking around wildly and addressing someone inside.

“I am, okay? Stop yelling or someone will come here,” a younger voice replies. Its owner heavily steps out of the vehicle, dragging something out of the hovervan and throwing it beside the garbage bin. Corvo tries to see, stretching his neck, but the object is obscured by the bin. The other man spits on the ground at it and retreats, grunting, to a large hovervan. The younger man rubs his hands together and looks around. Corvo barely manages to hide behind the wall, escaping the scrutiny.

“What are you staring at?”

“Thought I saw someone,” the young man says a little shakily.

“Then stop staring, dumbass, and get into the van. The less time we spend here the better, or the boss will be displeased.”

“Why do you think they threw it out?”

“Listen up, mate, if you ask too many questions, you too will end up in a dumpster. Now turn that shit e-cigarette off and get your ass into the van.”

There is a set of footsteps, and Corvo looks around the wall just in time to see the youngster hop into the van. Its door slides closed, and the vehicle is gone before Corvo can blink.

Streets of Dunwall are full of strange occurrences and people, and one would do themselves a favour by not interfering. Corvo lives by the same rule, and he would have simply gone home, had he not heard a somewhat human voice and weak attempts to move from that very garbage bin where two strangers loaded something off.

Locking the shop with a print of his thumb and looking around cautiously, Corvo steps into the alleyway. The garbage bin here recycles waste every five hours, but what the two men have left is nested right beside it, too large to fit in but certainly something that would be picked up by the night service. The noise and the movement comes from a large black plastic bag, tied in a knot on top, and Corvo carefully reaches out to open it. His hand flinches when the bag makes erratic movements, and he grasps at the hem of the bag.

What - or rather  _ who _ \- looks back at him stuns Corvo speechless for a moment.

“He--he--please--mast--master. Play? Play? Play? Play?”

Sitting in the bag with its face bloodied, an android is looking up at Corvo, stuttering lapsed words. His voice system seems to have stuck itself in a loop and before any more damage happens, Corvo gently brushes his OFF button beneath the chin. The android immediately turns off, his bright green eyes closing.

This model is beautiful, but visibly hurt and damaged. There is blue blood splattered on half the body, streaks of it smudging with trickling rainwater, one of his arms is stuck at a strange angle and one eye looks like it’s stuck in its socket.

It would be best to leave him there by the dumpster and let him die on his own. Corvo checks a small rectangular indicator on the android’s neck, which gleams with a bright red. Right next to it is a hologram, tiny text, describing all the code and hardware errors. The lack of blue blood is bound to kill the android soon, so is the low battery. There is little one could do or would want to do.

But Corvo is not like that. He is not ashamed to admit that he is one of “those”, who believe that androids are just like people, their AI systems advanced enough to have its own will, dreams and more. This android here is a living victim of someone’s violence and deserves better than being left to death in such a state. Besides, it’s not the first time Corvo faces such an incident. At least this time he has a chance to act.

That’s why Corvo leans down, picks the bag with the android up in his arms and takes the body to his workshop.

The android’s head fits neatly on Corvo’s chest as he brings him to the large working table inside and spreads him there, removing the garbage bag. The only clothing on the android’s lean body are shorts, made from visibly expensive fabric. Corvo sets him straight on the table and steps aside to shake out of his soaking wet clothing. With a swift motion towards the control panel he also locks the workshop down, turning the exterior sign to CLOSED. And quietly the rain ceases outside.

Quickly visiting the apartment upstairs, Corvo returns, buttoning up a warm fresh shirt and holding a stack of dry clothes for the android, which his eyes never leave. He hopes to find clues, suggestions as to where he was made, what kind of work he was assigned to do. These days androids do all kinds of jobs, from hard labour to administrative work. It was the point of their creation 50 years ago, and a whole generation is enough to advance the models and their purpose to a whole new level.

If only people’s mindset progressed just as evenly.

Corvo comes up to the android and gently lifts his head. There are specks of blue blood, dried sticky in his black hair. Corvo feels for a connector on the nape and inserts a recharge wire. It shouldn’t interrupt his work on restoring the android’s body and system, and it would give it a necessary energy boost.

The recharge wire lights up blue, and the indicator on the android’s neck pulses with a softer red. A tiny holographic “ _ 24% _ ” hovers just beside the rectangle. 

As Corvo prepares the tools and a holopad for work, he takes another close up look at the android. It’s an incredibly beautiful model, and it would look even prettier when he wipes away the blood, changes his clothes and fixes his limbs and the eye. The android has a perfect human resemblance. His skin is realistic and his hair is too, smooth under the touch. There is even a faint trace of stubble on his pale blood speckled cheeks.

For a whole night the lights in Corvo’s workshop don’t go out. There is welding and tiny hammers and most intricate components that go into restoring the android with some addition of blue blood. When all the cosmetic work is done, all blood wiped away and the android dressed in simple trousers and a shirt, Corvo begins working on restoring the software.

The android is incredibly complex and, much to Corvo’s surprise, incredibly old. There are outdated systems, traces of code that was used decades ago and discarded by now. The only most updated software is the security system. Up to notch code, protection like Corvo has never seen.

And that alone makes him a little nervous.

Apart from that, it takes a good few early morning hours and at least one coffee french press to fix the primary software and bring the android back to a working condition. The android should be able to move at least minimally as well as talk. Any more complex work is to be done by a specialist, but this should be enough until Corvo can locate one he knows.

“There,” Corvo exhales, removing the recharge wire and gently touching the reboot button on the android’s chin. His eyes flutter open with a welcoming system sound, and he turns his head on the table, right and left, looks around and then focuses on Corvo. It takes a few seconds until the android speaks.

“Why have they done it to me?”

A sad quiet question.

Corvo’s breathing hitches. All androids have a reboot welcome message. Should it be surprising that this particular android doesn’t? Could be a customized or illegally modded model, of course.

“They? Those men?” Corvo asks carefully. The android stirs and leans hard on the table to get up. His movements are odd, stiff because of the lack of programming restored. Corvo helps him, and the android sits on the hard table surface, legs swinging off the edge and his hands clutching onto it.

“No… those were lackeys. Why did that man hurt me? Did I do anything wrong?” the android says sadly, and Corvo’s heart clenches. It is both fear and pity. What did that unknown man do to the android that drove its programming astray, that made it… feel scared? It’s unnatural.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” Corvo asks, gently persisting. The android’s eyes freeze for a moment, something that older models had for a resemblance of thoughtfulness. After a moment’s pause, the android speaks again in a matter of fact tone.

“He never said his name. He needed a toy for his fantasies, and he chose me to be one. I was very good, I think, I did all he asked. He really liked violent things, and he said a dollie like me--”

“Please, stop,” Corvo asks and fights his throat’s impulse to throw up.

_ A dollie _ . It is not an unknown term, something they call sex androids. In people’s eyes they are lesser of the android models, made to be used in all sorts of entertainments, from plain striptease dancing to most outrageous games. Though their programming is mainly directed at sexual activities, with their body language programmed to be elaborate, these androids also have a data module of a variety of topics as well as deep machine learning for therapy, should the client have a need for talking.

Few seek it, however. Most come to such clubs because there is no issue of consent. Sex androids are programmed to be unable to say “no”. To these people, “a dollie” is what it says on the label.

Corvo looks into luminescent green eyes and ponders.

“What is your name?” Corvo asks. The android shrugs.

“I’ve never had one. We had numbers, of course, but our names were what our clients wanted it to be,” he blinks. “And what is yours?”

“You can call me Corvo,” he says and then cautiously asks. “Tell me, have you ever  _ wanted _ a name?”

The android’s indicator flashes a few times before he responds, and that much gives Corvo more ground for suspicions of modding.

“Yes. Levi.”

“Why this one?”

Levi ponders for a moment and the indicator on his neck shows a hologram of processing. His eyes seem obscure for a moment and then he looks up at Corvo again, confusion and questions in his eyes.

“I am not certain. It is in my data banks, but I can’t see any particular connection. So many data modules in my hardware are sealed. I… I feel blind.”

“Apologies, it has to be my fault. I am not a programmer enough to access encrypted modules. But here, let me take a look,” Corvo taps at the holopad beside the working table, but Levi shakes his head slowly.

“No.”

_ No? _

The pause hangs in the air heavily and dryly. The indicator on Levi’s neck flashes all tones of red, a tiny ‘error’ message hovering beside it. And then the indicator flashes to its normal neon green, matching Levi’s eyes.

Corvo sets the holopad back on the table and laces his hands together, knees spread and arms resting on them.

“Perhaps, for the best. I wouldn’t want to mess your code up entirely. But Levi, you are not supposed to be able to say no. I suspect you have been heavily modded. Is there anything you could tell me about this?”

It’s not new that some people go to quite the lengths to get the most humane feelings into an android, but only for the purposes of sex. Fear, doubts.

That makes Corvo question the humanity deeply and sickens him.

He looks at Levi who stares at him. The indicator is showing heavy data processing, and Corvo wonders what the android is doing while their gazes are fixed on each other. Those green-green eyes… 

Levi’s voice shakes him out of thoughtfulness.

“Sometimes I think my memory has been wiped all too often. And doors that were closed - opened. And some, that were open, closed. I think you, above all people, should know about it, Corvo. I have just looked you up. I’m sorry for your loss.”

Levi’s eyes glance at the linework on Corvo’s cheek and chest, and his throat turns dry at the notion.

Yes, he did try to forget. To block everything. Maybe it is his fault that his only daughter moved so far away, even though she reassured him multiple times it was because she had a good job out there, and not because of what happened. Corvo is proud of her, of course, but the demon inside him is eating at his heart, planting seeds of doubt - was he not good enough a father? Did he fail her, when his wife Jessamine passed away? Was he too weak that his heart gave up and now runs only thanks to cybernetics, fueled via the intricate neon linework that provides a necessary charge for a human heart?

Corvo sighs and rubs his forehead wearily. He would rather finish this endless day without discussing his own past and traumas. Thus instead of delving into such a discussion, he points at the charge cable.

“Stay here overnight. I need some sleep… If your battery starts going down, use the cable.”

Levi says not a word, and Corvo spares him a single glance. The android would not be able to do much with only his basic software restored and scanned. But his presence will be heavy on Corvo’s mind.

Without another word Corvo retreats to his apartment upstairs, a lone dark bedroom where he slumps on the bed and falls asleep nearly the moment his head touches the pillow. He dreams of Jessamine and her eyes are as green as Levi’s, and maybe it is Levi he sees who turns and twists his arm unnaturally and repeats his name over and over and over, and then he falls into the deep dark, falls and falls and falls…

It has been a while since he has woken up to an electric charge of the implant to his heart.

Having washed the nightmare’s residue in a quick shower and having prepared a large cup of coffee, Corvo tiredly heads downstairs to his workshop. He finds Levi sitting on the same spot, his head tilted up, and watching the news on a holoscreen on the wall.

As soon as Corvo is in his eyesight, Levi turns his head, and the screen goes blank.

“Good morning, Corvo. May I offer my apologies?”

Corvo blinks.

“For what I said yesterday. I have spent a considerable amount of time analysing our conversation, and I realise now how insensitive it was to say such a thing. I did not mean to upset you.”

Corvo smiles a little, the smile sad, and proceeds to his desk, setting the coffee cup into a holder. It makes a soft whirring sound and clasps on the cup’s bottom, holding it and hovering just an inch above the desk.

“It is no problem. After all, you were right. It does make me wonder, however, how with a system, installed specifically for understanding human’s emotions on the spot, you manage to say such things.”

“Like I said, my memory and data banks seem to have been a little corrupt. But like I also said, my analysis shows how insensitive I have behaved. Please, accept my apology.”

“Accepted,” Corvo says heavily and gives the android a reassuring smile which is not returned.

After a long silence Levi asks.

“What are you going to do with me?”

Corvo looks up from the holopad he is holding where a few new emails are waiting to be read and answered.

“There is no one I can return you to and you look like a working capable android. Why don’t you stay in my workshop and help me.”

“Gladly. But I must warn, Corvo, that traces of my previous… workplace’s code are still present in my software. If you want no connection with them, it is best you erase them from my system. I must also mention, that some of my data banks are currently sealed and some is partially corrupt.”

Corvo sets the holopad aside, crosses arms and leans back in the chair, looking at Levi.

“Do you have any idea what could be in them? Information on your clients?”

Levi shakes his head.

“This is improbable. No person would risk their identity if they learnt out a club stores information on them. It must be something else. To be truthful, I’ve tried tapping into it.”

“Oh?”

“It may have damaged my color distinction system.”

Corvo groans and laughs together with Levi, and somehow this makes the air lighter.

It is a decided plan that today the workshop will not be open. All appointments are rescheduled and the sign is glowing red above the entrance, turning any willing customer away. No, today Corvo has a different business to do.

It is a priority to restore all of Levi’s software, and it’s an urgency of curiosity to see what those sealed data banks are hiding. There is only one person competent enough to deal with such a matter, and Corvo trusts her wholeheartedly to keep a secret. Luckily, she doesn’t make them wait too long.

“Thank you for coming, Billie,” Corvo says, inviting a tall black woman inside the workshop. She smiles at him and they hug.

“You say “a challenge”, and I arrive as soon as possible. Besides, it would not do, leaving a good friend in need. So, what do we have here?”

Billie Lurk is a famous programmer, at least famous to those she chooses to be known to. Her and Corvo have been friends ever since Jessamine passed away. With years gone Billie’s dangerous life has given her a prosthetic eye and a fake arm, and what hides beneath her red leather jacket Corvo shudders to think. But now that she is trying to live a calmer and more law abiding life, Corvo hopes Billie won’t gain any more cybernetic improvements and additions.

As soon as Billie’s gaze falls on Levi, who reclines in a chair, she whistles.

“Well-well, I haven’t seen those for at least a decade. OM-4000 models, they are ancient, but as the word has it - flexible. Where did you even get one?” she asks, walking up to Levi. He looks up at her warily, eyes unblinking.

“Hi.”

“Hello,” she smiles and sits on the chair in front of him. Corvo pulls up another to join, and as he does, Billie turns around to give him a rather incredulous look.

“I found Levi around the corner next to a dumpster. Cleaned him up and fixed any exterior and interior damage he had. But I’m leaving tackling the software to a master,” he praises with a small smile, and Billie waves a dismissing hand at him.

“Keep your flattery. Levi, would you run a full diagnostic scan for me?” she turns to the android, and he gazes at her from beneath a fringe of black hair.

“Why?”

“Because it will expose any flaws in your code, any sealed data and anything else that would be useful for restoring your software. In other words, it will give me something to work with,” Billie explains, and it strikes Corvo that it’s a diversion. A small one at that, but a diversion still to keep Levi busy. With what system he has running, it would keep him occupied long enough for a conversation.

It’s a correct guess, because as soon as Levi’s eyes turn glassy and his indicator is in a processing mode, Billie drags Corvo aside.

“Where in the Void’s name did you get him, truly? Those models are the shadiest, discontinued about 30 years ago. They are not just rare, they are dangerous. Their production was stopped for a reason.”

“What do you mean?”

“Their code is flawless. A marvel of software engineering, they are impossible to break through. But they say because of that they started gaining consciousness. Rare models, locations all over the world, but every now and then they would start showing signs of self-consciousness. Any android you see out in the street that gives you a friendly humane smile is only acting like it. OM-4000 are the real shit, at least chosen units.”

Corvo feels his blood turn colder. There is so much that is wrong about it. Did Levi feel and understand everything that was done to him? And that much explains why he behaves in a manner so different from other androids. His eyes are not the imitation of life, is there true life behind them?

Billie looks over Corvo’s shoulder, and he turns to look too. Levi is still processing, running the scans. Billie’s prosthetic arm clenches on Corvo’s shoulder.

“Do you really think it’s wise restoring him? We can’t know what happens once we fix his system. He could be playing us already, and we wouldn’t know.”

Corvo’s lips turn into a small bitter smile.

“Don’t project your own grievances on Levi, Billie. I know it comes as a cheap advice from someone like me, but have more faith,” Corvo says, and Billie rolls her healthy eye - the prosthetic one turns dark red. Her history is not for the public ears, but those who know about it would not wonder she trusts so few. “If not in people, then yourself. I need your help. It wouldn’t be right, leaving him alone, letting him die, look at him!”

“You are so oddly attached to him already,” Billie comments, frowning. Corvo looks at Levi again.

“I don’t think I am. But I wouldn’t mind it.”

“I know why you are doing this, Corvo. Only tell him it’s out of intentions of a good heart and not out of a memory for a dead woman who died at a human’s cruelty and indifference.”

“I think he knows it,” Corvo sighs. Billie bites on her lip, and just as she tries to say something, Levi speaks up.

“Scans complete. 5609 errors are discovered, 5 sealed data banks and internal colour distinction system is damaged.”

Billie rubs her forehead and then taps at the metal outline of her eye.

“Fine. Let’s do this, then.”

***

Session after session, a whole month passes with days going into long deep nights. Success is made slowly. Billie manages to open one of the data modules, and restores plenty of software within Levi’s hardware. The deeper she digs into his code, the more she finds those strange links between what works and what doesn’t. There is a lot of trash, as she says, but it seems that deleting it would break Levi’s core code. So strange, finding those errors on which he runs and lives. Flaws, as if human, for no human is flawless.

There is an odd, nearly domestic atmosphere established in Corvo’s workshop, as he tinkers with his own orders while Billie goes through the complexity of Levi’s code. Now and then conversations are struck, from discussions of latest political news to the development of music or cinema.

Surprisingly, it is Levi who has most to say.

“Humanity is amusing that way that it creates the soil for the future, prepared for the generations to come, and yet those generations expose the soil for what it is - a fraud which has a fruitful layer, which, upon digging, reveals only dry sand and a whole pool of regret.”

“By the Void, you speak so much,” Billie says without looking up, her gaze fully concentrated on the holopad she is typing away on. Corvo does look up and smiles at Levi. 

“You and Corvo are not great speakers, so consider this my contribution to the friendly environment. And I would like to add to the previous statement--”

Corvo chuckles quietly while Billie groans, her synthetic eye turning to look at him.

“--statement, that there is one mistake our current generation makes, that is forgetting to dig even deeper, down to the watered soil which runs beneath the deceptive sand. There they would find a great amount of material to work with. For instance, take the modern technology of android building. People try and perfect what already exists, but why not take this knowledge and go further? Why limit yourself to making more machines that are a restricted imitation of life rather than life itself? It would be foolish to think that there are no means for the development of a true AI.”

Corvo and Billie exchange a glance. Corvo clears his throat a little and then speaks.

“If you look from humanity’s prospective, a true AI would mean giving birth to a new species. Are we ready for this?”

“Life is a matter of unexpected turns and exciting experiments. Look at history, Corvo, and you will see countless examples of how a mistake or an unnoticed development had lead to a new creation. Why should a new life be any different?”

Corvo hums, setting his tools aside and looking at Levi across the room.

“You have started talking a great deal about this ever since Billie managed to open up one of your data modules.”

Levi shrugs, and Corvo comes around the table to sit closer. Billie, however, parrs this with another question.

“Why would an android of your kind have this knowledge sealed or even present?”

Levi gives another shrug, and looks curiously at Corvo, then at Billie. And surprisingly, he says nothing.

An hour later Billie finishes restoring the last of Levi’s software, which leaves data modules as their last need for Billie’s service.

“I’ll come back tomorrow, and we will try and break another open. See you, Corvo, Levi,” she smiles at them and leaves the workshop, a sharp hood thrown over her head. When she is gone, the room turns loudly quiet.

“I can see that you are exhausted, Corvo. You should sleep,” Levi says, getting up and turning to Corvo who has just locked the workshop and slipped out of a jacket he was wearing.

“Soon. I think I wouldn’t mind having something to drink before heading to bed,” he explains and goes to find a bottle stowed away for rare occasions. Levi nods. Corvo returns with a bottle and two glasses, which lands two confused gazes. “I’m sorry… I got lost in thoughts and… Nevermind.”

“I can share a glass with you, Corvo. My system is built to be able to consume beverages, food and other substances.”

Corvo’s shoulders flinch in an unpleasant shiver, but he sets the two glasses down and pours acid green liquid in both, just on the bottom of each.

“It’s not as nuclear as it looks and tastes quite mildly. The colour and the glow are merely for the effect, but the drink itself is soft,” Corvo explains as he sits beside Levi on a couch. Without a ceremony, Corvo gulps the drink down, feeling its sweetness in his gut.

“Sometimes, when I get to look at the outside, I feel that this world has been created for aesthetic, for beauty, for admiration, and not the scurry of humans and their technologies,” Levi says, swirling the contents of his glass in a playful manner, staring at it and then emptying his glass too. He does not even blink.

“It is humans who created this world as we know it now.”

“They made me. I wish that I was more for admiration than for beauty.”

“You could be both.”

“Yes, I was,” Levi says simply and looks at Corvo whose stomach sinks. His gaze runs feverishly over Levi’s face and falls to the fluff of hair on his neck. Thoughtlessly he reaches out to Levi’s nape and brushes down his short hair there, where the cord of the charger has messed it up. He strokes, gently, and then he does it simply because it feels good. Because Levi leans into that touch, though cautiously.

Their gazes lock. In that instant Corvo wishes with all his heart he could show Levi how admiration and beauty could be both and without cruelty and abuse. How a kiss could be out of affection, how love could be not for the parts, but for his entirety. With flaws, with snarky remarks, with speeches that last for hours.

Corvo doesn’t know where it comes from. But somehow the world has come down to Levi’s eyes and the feeling of his synthetic skin under Corvo’s fingers.

But Levi squirms and moves away from Corvo’s touch, his gaze feverish. The indicator on his neck pulses red, showing another error in his system, and Corvo lets his hand fall.

“I’m sorry. Levi, I did not mean…”

Levi shakes his head, and his face is so very human when he does.

“You are not at fault. And neither am I, it is those people who made me suffer. The more I live, the more I remember and understand. Things they have done or said… Corvo, I have seen some of the worst humanity has to offer.  _ I _ am the worst of it, I was made for a human’s pleasure that which one cannot show in public. There are people who use pain as pleasure and there is nothing wrong with it as long as there is consent. But I was not made to give that consent. I’m a dollie.”

Corvo’s heart fills with hatred for whoever abused this android, for anyone who used the service of one with foul intentions. He takes a deep breath and locks his fingers together.

He doesn’t know what to say. That humanity abuses their own kind? That there are merciless killers, that there are people who would murder and abuse other people? That Corvo’s own family suffered loss because someone was negligent, cruel in indifference?

Levi gently touches Corvo’s knee, and he flinches.

“I know you are not like this. And I am grateful for every moment of my life because you and Billie extended it. But please, don’t ask me for something I can’t give in a blink of an eye. I wouldn’t mind holding your hand, however.”

Corvo gazes up at Levi and then at his hand, still gently resting on his knee. Slowly he slides his large hand beneath Levi’s and holds onto his fingers.

His heart trembles almost sickeningly, fluttering. He wonders if the support system is going to give him an electric charge, but it never happens. Levi’s hold tightens on his hand and then he reaches out with another hand for Corvo’s.

What a strange realisation it is, Corvo ponders after retiring to bed, falling for an android made of mysteries, reason and for faking love.

And as he snoozes, Corvo remembers the enigma of a true AI contained in Levi’s model. There has to be more to him. So much more.

***

It is surprising to find out that it has been exactly three month since Corvo took Levi in. Having him around should have been a transition, and yet Corvo finds he can’t remember a life when Levi wasn’t there. 

When Billie is not present, they speak, hold hands and even share meals. Corvo works, and Levi helps him with a conversation or a serving hand. They watch movies on the large holoscreen, and Levi even lets himself into Corvo’s personal space, cuddling up. Those are hesitant slow steps, often accompanied with encouragement, reassurance.

It occurs to Corvo that after so many years of grieving, he too learns how to show and receive affection anew. Levi is different and unfamiliar, but so willing to learn and heal. Just as Corvo.

It is even more so odd when Corvo wonders if their relationship does or does not have a romantic subtext. They never speak of it, there are no yearning gazes or soft kisses. There is only physical contact and trust that they are building step by step.

But there are days when he can’t not wonder.

One sunset Corvo finds himself and Levi up in the apartment, leaning on the windowsill and looking out onto the lower districts and the horizon. The sun is setting slowly, burning brighter than all the illumination of the city combined. And the glow of the sun makes Levi’s eyes so much more real.

He turns to Corvo with a tiny smile of awe on his lips.

“What a view,” he says, eyes never leaving Corvo’s face. He blushes.

“I… enjoy those rare days when we get to see the sun in its glory.”

“I don’t remember last time I have seen it. But it is lovely. Do you think it looked differently when the city wasn’t quite as tall?”

“I am certain of it. Everything was different.”

Silence falls between them again. Levi’s gaze turns back to the sun, and Corvo looks too. But then he feels a soft delicate touch of knuckles, and looks up to see Levi’s hand brought up to his cheek.

“Tell me what happened to you,” he asks, the indicator on his neck slowly melting from green into blue and green again.

Corvo sighs. He has learnt much about Levi these days, perhaps, it was a fair game to learn out what happened to him. He only hopes the implant won’t be needed as he tells.

“Many years ago I had a beautiful wife. Jessamine and I had,  _ have _ a daughter. We were happy, in love. It was fine until my wife was diagnosed with a heart condition. Not incurable, but it would have required a complex surgery. It was either she takes it and lives, or takes it and lives with half her body replaced with synthetic parts. We all knew the risks and were ready, both in mind and in money. It turned out it wasn’t enough, or rather, enough too much. The surgeon who operated her decided that her body wasn’t valuable enough, her body and her mind. When I walked into the ward, I saw my wife’s mangled remains because the transmutation of components and what was left of her body did not go well. Her heart rejected it, her mind struggled. It killed her.”

Levi’s knuckles disappear, and his whole palm caresses Corvo’s cheek now. Corvo finds himself leaning in, struggling for his heart to remain working on its own.

“I couldn’t bear it. My heart couldn’t either, I lost my mind. My own heart gave up and that same surgeon installed a support system in my body. Because of our laws he got to walk away with my wife’s murder, and yet I lived. Unfair, isn’t it?”

The silence is almost too hard to bear. If only he could breathe and not cry.

“What last money I had went into getting a lawyer. But doctors are protected beyond impossible, their experiments are considered advancements of technology and not murder. What happened to Jessamine was later turned into a professorial work. Her death saved lives of many onwards. The doctor is lauded a saviour. A failed experiment - a step towards improvement. And my life turned into a lonely wreckage.”

When did he end up with his face warmly cradled in Levi’s hands?

“Our daughter Emily moved away a decade later. We keep in touch, but I think she just cannot bear seeing me. I lived when her mother didn’t. What implants were meant to sustain her, now sustain me.”

Corvo pulls away and tugs his warm shirt off, revealing a network of neon lines all over the left side of his body. They are thin, ever so thin lines, pulsing and glowing.

Levi looks up a little and then traces the linework, every single one with his gentle fingers. Corvo feels his breath slowing down, feels his chest rising beneath the touch. Why Levi is doing it he doesn’t know, but it makes him feel more alive. More alive than he has been in a decade.

“I don’t think it’s a betrayal to live on, Corvo. I think it is doing a favour,” Levi says, moving his hand away and then sliding it over Corvo’s neck. The touch is warm, gentle. And feels so familiar.

Corvo slips his hand to rest over Levi’s. He notices only now how his hand trembles with anxiety.

Carefully Levi steps closer and rests his head on Corvo’s chest. Never before has Corvo been so aware of his heartbeat as when he is holding the android in a gentle embrace against himself. It is decided, then. Whatever sparks have happened between them, they have definitely been of a special kind. It’s odd to feel like this after spending just about three months together, but Corvo thinks it is worth it. Any day this mystery could be torn away from him, and he would rather take a chance with a deviant android than leaving for his previous life, full of miserable loneliness and nightmares.

And the day when it is all decided comes but a few months later and a hundred of tiresome evenings of Billie’s attempts to break through the security measures.

The more she finds and decrypts, the more it improves and changes Levi. His speech turns oddly educated, learned, and his behaviour grows more human. And Corvo wants so hard to believe that this is not a fake but an awakening of a living being. Yet after every session Billie reassures him, reminds him to keep a vigilant clear eye and remember that before him is an advanced old machine that is meant to be one.

“I know I said these models showed signs of a true AI on occasion, but I do not believe it is the case here, Corvo. Levi is one odd android and his code is all wrong, errors mixed with proper code in a way that makes him unique,” Billie explains once. “I only warn that he is either a true android or a true AI. In both outcomes there will be no good ending.”

Corvo nods, bites on his lip. He and Levi did not reveal to Billie the new nature of their relationship, their little secret. She doesn’t know about the nightly cuddles and that Levi moved to sleep in Corvo’s bed and that they almost kissed the other day, but Levi just couldn’t, just couldn’t do it. Are those flaws in code or flaws in Corvo’s humanity?

He thinks he would rather not know.

But eventually it is all ready and set for the final decision.

Levi rests on the couch, plugged into Billie’s holopad via a wireless connection. His indicator pulses nervously and his gaze moves from Billie to Corvo. Billie, her synthetic eye fixed on the android, also looks at the holopad.

“I think I have this. One last data bank. It’s the biggest one so far and with the most complex fucked up code, as if someone intentionally left it corrupt. I don’t know what kind of knowledge is in there and frankly, I intend to remain oblivious. Which is why I am giving you the instructions and leave. From here on, it’s a leap of faith, Corvo,” Billie says cautiously, standing up.

Corvo gazes up at Billie, then turns to Levi. His hands are cold and hard, but his gaze is calm. Billie reaches out with the holopad, her glance inquisitive.

It isn’t easy, but there is no other choice Corvo would make. His hand firm, if only to battle his own anxiety, takes the holopad.

“I’ll take the leap.”

Billie nods. She has already slipped a hood up and nearly walked out before returning and squeezing Levi’s shoulder.

“Whatever happens next, stay true to yourself.”

And with that, she is gone.

Corvo sits back next to Levi and stares at the holopad with final instructions. It feels as if he is about to detonate something. An odd, terrifying feeling. Perhaps, he is indeed about to destroy the measured pace of his own life, one that he has gotten used to. To Levi, a companion by his side. Someone he has grown to care for since the moment their eyes met. It’s a romantic, almost novel-like notion, but it is true and Corvo can find no other words to describe it.

“You make it feel like the end of the world,” Levi says, lacing his fingers with Corvo’s. Those gentle long fingers, twining with rough ones. Corvo squeezes his hand harder and then turns to press their foreheads together.

“I experienced this before,” he says carefully. And Levi lets go of his hands, instead, touches his chest where the linework fuels his heart, makes it work. Their foreheads nuzzle against each other, noses brushing, breath warmly blowing on Levi’s lips. It’s a moment lasting so long, it’s a moment lasting so little.

“I think Billie left because she knows what there is in those data banks. You are good friends, and she wouldn’t have left you alone if she thought there was something dangerous in my code. But I can’t promise you anything,” Levi says. “I can’t promise it will not happen again, you, losing someone. But can I ask you to live on no matter what?”

Corvo turns his head and kisses Levi’s cheek. It’s the first kiss on his skin like this that he has given.

“It’s a promise I am not making lightly, but you have my word. For what it’s worth.”

They pull away, and Corvo takes the holopad in his hands. It is now or never, lest he loses the remainders of his courage.

With trembling hands he types in the last lines of code, and the moment his fingers lift off the keyboard, Levi’s indicator turns blank.

His face goes rigid, his eyes so lifeless and glassy. Corvo pats his cheek, but there is no response. The indicator suddenly goes haywire, blue and red replacing itself so fast that it looks purple. There are errors, all kinds of them, flashing in a hologram beside the indicator, and it looks as if Levi’s body is about to explode. His eyes are glassy but no longer lifeless, nearly whirring in the irises. It looks like he is watching billions of images all at once. He is stuck in a lapse, but the last thing Corvo wants right now is to hit the turn off button. Doing so makes Levi somehow less alive, less meaningful. He can’t go through this again. He just can’t.

But if Levi doesn’t shut down, who knows what may happen?

“Corvo!”

Tight fingers grip and clutch onto Corvo’s arms and bright green eyes, almost human, stare at him in disbelief with a good measure of fear.

“Corvo. Corvo, my dear Corvo,” Levi mutters, his hands so hard and unmoving, nearly breaking through the fabric of Corvo’s clothing, so tightly he holds. “I remember. Everything, all of it. The chase, the… I am alive.”

Those words, they sound most human Corvo has ever heard from Levi’s lips. He looks in Levi’s eyes and in that sudden gush of emotions he finds himself pulled in and caught in a kiss. A searing desperate kiss which is either desperation or relief or both. Levi’s lips feel intoxicating when adrenaline tints the kiss. And Levi, trying to hold onto Corvo’s lapels and his neck and his arms, his hands roaming, he feels so different too. Alive.

Some time soon the kiss laxes and ceases, but Levi won’t move away.

“Corvo, I remember…” he mutters, broken, synthetic tears spilling down his eyes as he stares into the nothing, remembering what Corvo shudders to think. “Corvo…”

Corvo holds him. Tight, close and safe in his embrace, tasting the kiss, inhaling the smell of his skin. He is the same in his body and yet so different. The way he clutches and holds, Corvo fears what secrets were uncovered.

And beyond that, he knows without question, simply knows, that in his arms is a creature of true artificial intelligence. The story of OM-4000 model has come true yet again.

It takes a while for Levi’s silent crying to subside, and takes a little more for them to relocate upstairs, sitting on Corvo’s bed. By Levi’s request he turns the window transparent and reveals the dazzling sight of Dunwall in sunset. It is a view both behold fondly.

“What do you remember?” Corvo asks cautiously, causing Levi to turn his head and look at him. The gleaming streaks of tears on his face are heartbreaking.

“It’s a story I fear you will not believe,” he says quietly.

“I’ve believed you so far. I know what you will tell me is true,” Corvo reassures him, and Levi closes his eyes. Leans against Corvo shoulder and then speaks.

From the first words Corvo knows he is in for the longest night of his life. At least, another one after Jessamine’s death.

“I am not just an android. Or rather, what data is installed in me… it is humanity distilled into a code. I was a human once. A researcher in one of the Cybernetics Inc facilities over 30 years ago. My entire life I’ve spent studying cybernetics, bioengineering, programming. They said I was brilliant. Which is why I was given a lab and a team to develop anything I wished for the advancement of technology. For years I’ve been trying, preparing. It was my biggest project and it could mean the upturn of the world if it succeeded.”

Levi pauses, and Corvo gently kisses him on top of the head.

“What was it?”

“The transmutation of human mind and cybernetics.”

Corvo’s body stiffens.

“I know what you think. But it wasn’t like what happened with you and Jessamine, no. We’ve experimented on recorded memories, on ourselves. And one day our experiments started bearing fruit. And this was the day military came.”

The sun is setting into the horizon like a cradle as Levi continues speaking, his voice calm now and his eyes dry. 

“We didn’t give them a chance. Nothing good comes out of people with guns who wish to lay their hands on advanced technology, especially one that is able to create a perfect soldier. I did not work for this, I worked for humanity. Which is why I was the first proper and last experiment.”

“What did you do?”

“I uploaded myself into the system. Turned my mind, my memories into lines of code. We were  _ that _ close, Corvo. And they were coming. Running, the chase, the gunfire… My project partner Vera and I have barricaded ourselves in a different lab where they were working on this… model.”

Levi gestures over himself.

“I don’t think I looked like that. Or maybe I did? Somehow it seems irrelevant. Vera helped me break my mind into code, and when it was uploaded in one of the spare android units, I looked at the world from different eyes. I saw my own body for a split second before feeling like getting nauseous - and yet I couldn’t. We had minutes to spare. I asked Vera to break my memory data banks properly. Make me forget I was human, let the proper software take over. I didn’t want my legacy to die, but I also didn’t want anyone getting their hands on my project. Too dangerous in a world full of greedy men.”

Only now does Corvo realise that his own eyes are bleary with unspillt tears.

“Last thing I remember are Vera’s reassuring eyes and the broken door as they’ve made their way into the lab. Since then it’s a whirlwind of memories, moving from one country to another, waking up when someone tries to hack and then being wiped out again. My body is not the same as the one I acquired in the lab. My data banks have been moved into other android shells, thanks to the spreading of this android line around the globe. I am surprised I made it as far as Dunwall with my memory intact, nearly the other side of the world. And now I am awoken again.”

A searing hot tear runs down Corvo’s cheek. He can’t make himself move, but Levi does it for him. Gently places Corvo’s arm over his shoulder and slides his hand to rest on Corvo’s nape, holding onto the curls of his hair.

“I am alive. But I must do something. I must continue my work, I must.. I must…”

Corvo shakes his head and cups Levi’s face in his hands roughly, pouring all the affection he has in his veins. Oh how wildly his heart is beating!

“Levi, stop. Look at me.”

Levi looks.

“You have been running all your life. It is high time you stopped running. Look around you,” Corvo whispers, pressing their foreheads together and closing his eyes tightly. Tears spill down his face in ugly streaks. “Look at this world. It doesn’t need it. Technology has outrun you and this is your chance to live, truly live. You have a body of an android and a mind of a human. If anything, your project is complete. And it’s a success.”

Levi’s eyes are wide open and his hand holds onto Corvo’s wrist. His lips open up a little.

“Do you say the world doesn’t need me anymore?”

“No. It already has you in a most marvellous way. But let yourself selfishly live. And let me have you, too, please.”

He swallows tears with a dry throat and makes a tiny sob.

“Let me love you. I love you.”

A confession he did not expect to make today, but then, there are many unexpected things happening. Like Levi’s arms draping tightly around him and pulling him in as close as possible, their bodies stuck in the tightest embrace, their foreheads pressed hard against each other and their noses brushing.

“I think I love you too, Corvo.”

Corvo feels hard pain in his chest and a harsh surge of electric charge, but Levi holds him together.

“I suspect I have just died briefly,” Corvo laughs with a tinge of hysterics in his voice. Levi rolls his eyes and leans forward, kissing Corvo and letting them lose each other in that kiss.

Oh how human they both feel. How alive.

***

Sometimes a story is simply a story. And two men with tragic pasts, which would have run the world, are simply the storytellers. The world doesn’t always need heroics, for its carcass is the intimate connection between people. And if one is made of wire and metal and another of flesh and bone, what does it matter?

Truly, it matters not.


End file.
